Blueberry Crumble Bars

We had some old work friends over last week for dinner and I decided to make a dessert that was in season.  These taste absolutely delicious!  There is a little bit of work to these because you make the crumble top,  and set that aside. Then you make the crust and bake it, then immediately add the blueberry filling and the crumble top and bake again.

 I will definitely make these again.

Ingredients

  

Crumb Topping

1 cup (128g) all purpose flour

⅓ cup (66g) packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

6 tablespoons (85g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed

Crust

1 ½ cups (191g) all purpose flour, sifted

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (42g) powdered sugar, sifted plus extra for sprinkling on top

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, room temperature

Blueberry Filling

3 ½ cups (454-510g) fresh blueberries*

1 teaspoon lemon juice

½ cup (100g) granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

Instructions

 Crumb Topping

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt until well blended. Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips, until it looks sandy, with no large pieces of butter remaining. Press the mixture together to form chunks. Set aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Crust

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a couple of inches of overhang. These will be handles to lift the bars out of the pan.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt until well blended. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat just until combined.

Press the dough evenly into the baking pan. Bake until the surface looks light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

Blueberry Filling

In a large bowl, toss the blueberries with the lemon juice. Mix in the sugar and cornstarch. Pour the blueberry mixture over the warm crust. Top evenly with the crumb topping. Return the pan to the oven and continue baking until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbly, about 28-35 more minutes. Let cool completely before removing the bars from the pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.